Sunday, June 25, 2017

5 Must Try Productivity Hacks and Tools

For this week's girl boss post I thought I would share with you some of my latest game-changing productivity hacks. These tools and hacks have made a huge difference in my content and most importantly, my sanity.

Be prepared to have your world rocked when you pair a timer with time blocking. Prior to time blocking I found myself scattered, always starting projects but never finishing them, frustrated and overwhelmed.

Trying to care for my son while working and taking care of the house was too much to do at all at once. Caring for David and my work are both things that require individualized attention. Don't get me wrong, there are still times I multi-task. But when I am working on big projects or having playtime with David I make sure to schedule time just for those particular activities a.k.a assigning them a time block.

Time blocking is amazing all on its own but when it is done in conjunction with a productivity timer, wholly molly, here comes Mrs. Productive! When combined, you become more aware of your time and use it wisely. You know not to get side tracked because this is the only allotted time you will have for this particular task and don't stress about the other things because you know that they have their own place and time in your schedule. Game. Changer.

There are many productivity timers on the market like the one shown below but I just personally use the timer on my Apple watch. The key is to make it as easy as possible for you in order for you to carry through with this every single day. Once you've created the habit, you will be hooked.

Have you ever felt so overwhelmed with things you had to do that you decided to forgo doing anything? Yep, I've been there. This To Do System was developed out of sheer overwhelm and being paralyzed without being able to do a single thing. I'm proud and happy to say that this system has completely changed my life and I do not suffer from overwhelm paralysis anymore.

The key to the Ultimate To Do System is to break your tasks down into three sections: Master, Weekly, and Daily.

Step 1: Master To Do List

Perform a brain dump with all of your tasks and denote each one with one to five stars, five stars being of highest priority.

Pick a day to plan your week in advance. On your specified date, pick at least three things with high priority from your Master To Do list and place them in your Weekly To Do List.

Step 3: Daily To Do List

Take 5 minutes before you start your day to organize your tasks. Look at your weekly to do list and ask yourself which of the high-priority items you can achieve that day. You have seven days to complete at least three high-priority items and the remained for other tasks on your list.

This process might seem tedious but it has been an absolute game changer and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone who has struggled with task overwhelm.

I am traditionally a paper planner girl but I have been obsessed with Apple's iCal app (Google Calendar is an almost identical dupe). I love that I can color code calendar entries for my son, husband, work, and personal life. I still keep my paper planner so I love printing out my day and inserting a hard copy into my planner.

This has been a total game changer as I can share pertinent calendar entries with my husband or other people as long as I have their email address. Every entry syncs with my phone, computers, and iPad so there is no need to enter things multiple times. Total game changer!

Now, this might be totally mental, but I swear that applying this particular essential oil before doing any work has increased my productivity ten-fold. It is a blend of different essential oils targeted towards the solar plexus chakra. Without getting to woo-woo, the solar plexus chakra is said to govern willpower and achievement.

The blend comes in a roller ball which I like to apply to my wrists and neck every morning. Like I said, this could totally be a placebo effect but it totally works for me and it's worth me doing time and time again.

Tool # 5: Bluetooth Headphones

I had to include my Bluetooth headphones in today's post. They are an absolute necessity when it comes to focused work. My headphones enable to tune out any external noise and help me tune into the task at hand. Not only do I use them for focused work, I also use them to multi-task. I love to listen to audiobooks or podcasts while I clean or workout. This enables me to stay on top of my reading lists and makes me feel a million times more productive.

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I hope you've enjoyed this week's productivity post. As always, don't forget to subscribe and please let me know what you would like to see in the future. I love hearing from you and truly feel blessed to have you as a visitor to my blog.

10 comments:

Love the ideas I get a bit like that trying to stay on tasks but end up not doing anything it's can be frustrating I suffer from agoraphobia and one of the reasons I starting using a planner is to help me stay focused on things I need to do it has helped in my recovery big time but still have days that I struggle planning like this will be a great help I am going to give it a go thank you for taking the time to share this fab idea.

I really appreciate these ideas. I used to use a timer when writing papers to avoid brain fry. I also like the idea of a weekly to do list, prioritizing, and going day to day. That seems like it could take a huge pressure off, instead of planning the to dos for every day at the beginning of the week and then feeling bad if i don't get to them, I can plan as I go. Thank you!

Great article. I've got to get the to-do list thing down. I feel like dump as many tasks as I can onto the day that I've made my to-do list, don't get all of it done, feel guilty, and then have a hard time migrating them throughout the week. Doing a top three every day would be a great way to spread out the tasks throughout the week. But what about daily tasks? I've tried trackers but I always forget about them...